CHAPTER 11 — The Lock Station
972 Words
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
The ground trembled beneath our boots.
I stumbled. “What was that?”
Adrian didn’t look back. “A seal activation. Dorian’s starting to lock the lower levels.”
“What happens if he closes everything?”
He hesitated. Just for a fraction of a second.
“We’ll be trapped down here.”
My breath lodged in my throat.
The tunnel opened into a circular chamber, the ceiling rising high enough to echo our steps. Pipes crisscrossed the walls, some humming with pressure, others dripping quietly onto the metal floor. At the far end stood a massive steel door twice the height of Adrian, silent now, but pulsing faintly with blue light.
“The lock station,” he said.
It looked like something built to keep monsters out.
Or in.
Adrian marched straight to the control panel mounted beside it, his fingers flying over switches and coded buttons I didn’t recognize.
“How do you know all this?” I whispered, stepping beside him.
He didn’t answer at first, jaw set, eyes scanning the readouts. “Because there were days,” he said quietly, “when I thought I’d never see the surface again. When I thought this place would be my whole life.”
His voice cracked on the last word.
I touched his shoulder, almost unconsciously. “Adrian…”
But the screens blinked red, loud, angry, dangerous.
ACCESS INHIBITED.
He cursed under his breath. “They changed the entry sequence.”
The tremors grew louder, closer, vibrating through the soles of my shoes. I grabbed onto his arm. “Adrian, we don’t have time.”
“I know.” His fingers flew again, desperate but controlled. “They’re sealing the upper vents. Once the pressure shifts, this entire section will collapse into a lockdown chamber.”
“Lockdown chamber?” I repeated, heart pounding.
“It’s exactly what it sounds like,” he said. “A cage.”
His frustration was rising. I could feel it in the tense line of his back, the clipped movement of his hands.
“Try a bypass,” I urged.
“I am trying.”
Another tremor shook the room, harder this time. Dust sifted from the ceiling. Pipes groaned.
Fear clawed up my spine. “Adrian, ”
He slammed his palm against the panel. “Damn it!”
Then he froze.
His breath steadied.
His shoulders lowered.
His eyes sharpened, laser-focused.
He lifted a small metal plate on the side of the console, revealing not a keypad, but a hidden biometric scanner.
“I hoped I’d never have to use this again,” he muttered.
“What is it?”
“My clearance.”
My heart stopped.
“Adrian… if you use that, won’t it alert Dorian exactly where we are?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “But we don’t have a choice.”
The ground trembled again, louder, angrier.
Adrian pressed his palm to the scanner.
The screen flickered,
blue,
yellow
white,
Then:
CLEARANCE RECOGNIZED.
AUTHENTICATING…
A siren chirped. The door groaned, bolts shifting.
But before it could unlock fully, another sound cut through the chamber.
Footsteps.
Dozens.
Coming fast.
Adrian’s eyes snapped at mine. “They’re here.”
The steel door creaked open only a sliver, enough for one person to squeeze through at a time. Maybe.
“Go,” Adrian said.
“No.” I shook my head instantly. “We go together.”
“Not if the door closes again. You go first.”
“Adrian,”
“Don’t argue with me right now,” he snapped, though fear, not anger, flashed in his eyes.
I grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him close. “I’m not leaving you behind.”
His chest rose hard beneath my hands, his breath shaking as he stared at me like he was memorizing every line of my face.
“You don’t understand,” he whispered. “If they get me, if they take me, Dorian gets everything he’s been hunting for. But if he gets you…”
He swallowed, voice breaking.
“I can’t let that happen.”
My heart twisted painfully. “Adrian, ”
The footsteps were almost at the chamber entrance now, shadows moving rapidly.
We didn’t have time to argue.
So I made the only choice I could.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me. “Then we run together. End of discussion.”
For a second, he stared at me like he couldn’t believe I’d just done that.
Then something cracked inside him,
and he let out a breath that sounded almost like surrender.
“To hell with the plan,” he said.
He shoved the steel door wider with a grunt, metal screaming against metal. The opening widened, just enough.
“Go!” he ordered.
We slipped through the gap just as the door slammed shut behind us with a deafening clang.
The chamber we entered was darker, quieter, colder.
We were alone again.
But this time…
not running.
Not yet.
Adrian pressed his back to the door, chest heaving, sweat glistening at his temple. Then he looked at me, really looked at me.
“Thank you,” he breathed.
“For what?”
“For not leaving me. Even when you should have.”
I stepped closer. “I’m exactly where I choose to be.”
His lips parted, just slightly. Something raw flickered there, something unguarded.
But then,
a new sound echoed through the darkness ahead.
Not footsteps.
Not machinery.
A low, rhythmic hum.
Adrian’s face tightened.
“That’s not part of the tunnel system,” he whispered.
“Then what is it?”
His voice dropped.
“Something Dorian didn’t want me to find.”
We exchanged a look, fear, determination, something that went deeper than either.
And then we moved toward the sound.
Together.
- Writer
